


Starting Point

by Kirkland_Bonnefoye78



Category: Original Work
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bad Writing, Don't Read This, Help, Please Kill Me, child of the sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 02:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16567712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirkland_Bonnefoye78/pseuds/Kirkland_Bonnefoye78
Summary: Something I made while bored. Hope you like it... And, well, if one of you could, you know, tell me how to improve... *smiles shyly*





	Starting Point

"Sometimes, I want to die..." 

The words were said quietly, making me stare at the man curiously. It isn't really a surprise, of course. Everyone wants to die, even if it's just once in a while. Especially nowadays, where technology connects people as much as it separates them. He glances at me, then snorts. Something flashes in his eyes, full of grief that takes hold in my heart and makes it hard to breathe.

"But sometimes, dying isn't enough," he chuckles, making me laugh softly. It wasn't a happy laugh. It never is, ever since... Ever since _she_ died. 

"It's sad," I murmured, staring back at the vast sea before us, "that we only realize how much she mattered when she's already gone."

I smiled bitterly, just as I've been doing since that fateful day.

Nothing seems good anymore, as if she took all the flavour of life the moment she passed on. Everything is as colourful as it used to be, the sugar is still sweet and the sea still as salty as it used to be- yet the world seems monochrome, dull in a way that it never had been. Everthing I eat tastes like ash, bland and frankly disgusting.

I stand up, letting out a sigh. It shouldn't be a big deal, her death. I shouldn't be this affected. I never did care- not in the way she obviously needed. 

Not in the way that mattered.

Sometimes I look at the sea that claimed her and think, _We've never been enough_. 

Sometimes, I wish it's true.

I stretched and yawned. Thinking deeply had never been my forte. It hurts my brain, and tires me in a way exercise rarely does.

"Come on, Lim, let's go back to the house." 

Because it's not home, not anymore. He stands up, brushing his blue coat, and nods. We retrace our steps until we're back where everything started. 

~°~°~ 

Where did it start? When did it, for that matter. Why does it matter?

Some would say it started in a cold, winter night, when the Child of the Sea was born. Some would say it started in the buzzling city, where three friends fought against each other. Some would say it started when the sea raged for the lost of it's Child. Some would say that it started when one of them fell, into the arms of something they loved passionately. 

All of them are wrong. 

It started in a quaint, little house just a few feet away from the cliff. Where magic is carved into the very stones that supports it, where from the ceiling hangs ancient amulets that wards of evil.

It started with a little girl with a bright smile and brighter eyes, whose love is as unending as stars and as all-consuming as fire. 

It started with a desperate man, wishing that his child live far longer than just a night.

It started when the little girl was given to the sea, when the man's life was taken- when the exchange happened, a life in exchange for another.

It started when someone knocked on our door, and begged us to take the child and make her one with the seas. 

*** 

It was beautiful night. 

The stars were out, the moon was full, and the sea splashes against the rock under the cliff side. Lim and I were relaxing on the porch, not thinking about complex spells or searching for potion cures. Simply relaxing, living in the present, becoming one with the nature...

Then suddenly, footsteps echoed through the silent night, loud and hurried. It's followed by small sobs, and reassuring murmurs. 

"H-hello?" 

The voice was shaking, from fear or anticipation, I do not know. Perhaps it's neither. I make a show of groaning, rising from where I lay in the grass. 

Lim snorts quietly, rolling his eyes fondly. I raise an eyebrow, and he raises his. I scowled, because the two of us rarely needed words, not after living with each other for hundreds of years. A simple gesture, a slight change in our body, a small movement of our lips is enough to make a conversation.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" I asked with force cheer.

People always comes to us for favours. Most asks for money, some asks for fame, some asks for love or luck- though none of them are truly ready for it. We're bored, of course, so we give them those little favours as long as they can hold their end of bargain. Nothing can be made without an exchange, especially when it comes to magic. For example, the other person must be capable of love for you to make them fall for you romantically. We don't- _can't_ -force someone who hates you to love you. 

Anyway, the payment is fairly simple. Love charms needs the seed of a mistletoe, lucky charms needs four leaf clovers, and so on. But people rarely asks for life. Not because it's a complex ritual or anything, but because it asks for something most aren't willing to pay.

~~_A life for a life._ ~~

But that night, a man wearing a cloak so dark it could've been mistaken for shadows, kneeled in front of me and begged to take his life in exchange for his daughter. It awed me, made me wonder how great humanity is. 

That is, until he showed me his face. It was unchanged, unweathered by the age. Still as young as it had been when the three of us separated, so much that it was so easy to recognize. His hair is longer, but it still curls at the end. He wears a slight stubble on his chin, but his eyes were still as blue as the sea. It made me want to rage and swear and cry- 

But in his arms is a little, sick babe, and despite his looks his life-force is also dimming.A few centuries, at most. Enough for an-

an average human life.

My breathing hitched, I admit. Something cold and heavy settled in my stomach, making me want to hurl my dinner. Except there's something blocking my throat and tears are gathering in my eyes and I can't do it. I wanted to turn him away. I wanted to scream at him, to shout that we'll never help- 

But his eyes begged at me, and I know that I can't deny him of this... 

Not even after all this years. So I straightened my back and pursed my lips. I didn't ask if he was sure, didn't ask if it's really what he wanted. I simply looked at his eyes, and nodded. 

"Lim!" I called, my tone sharp and almost professional.

Almost, because the man in front of me is still family, still nakama, and everyone knows that those two lasts forever. 

Lim stares, of course, but he knows me in a way that Claus never will, so he takes a deep breath and smiles bitterly. No words were exchanged as we prepare the ritual. None of us needs it, not because we knows each other as well as we used to, but because we all know how to do it together. We studied it together, under one master, after all. 

The ritual itself was fast paced, a blurry of motions and words that I find painful to remember. But I do remember the way the moon seemed to glow red as Claus fall into the ocean, the way the waves caressed the babe as we lowered her slowly, the way the wind blew around us as the she was declared his heir, the Child of the Sea.

*** 

Once it's all said and done, we can't find it in ourselves to let the child go, to let her grow up normally. Not even when we realized she'll be gone in a few years. 

So we didn't.

We raised her by ourselves. We changed her diapers, we did her formula. We bought her food and dresses and taught her how to fight. We taught her how to cook and how to use phones and how to paint. We taught her how to perform magic, how to make deals and how to kill. We taught her how to steal souls, just for kicks and giggles. 

And we were there for all her firsts. 

Her first laugh, her first smile, her first trip to the city. We were there when she took her first fall, when she first tripped, when she said her first word. We were there when she first stood, when she took her first step, when she performed her first ritual. We were there when she first declared her love for the ocean, when she got her first paint set, the day she went for her first day of school. We were there for her first birthday party, when she got her first friends, when she met her first love. 

We were there when she cried for her first heart break, when her friendship fell apart, when she moved on. We were there when she won art contest after art contest, filling our house with trophies and medals. We were there when she fell in love with her true love, when she had her first child, when she looked at the sea and longed to be part of it. We were there for her, too, when she had her first lover's spat, when she fought with her child for the first time, when she was worried sick because her husband is fighting in a war continents away.

We watched her slowly wither away.

And through it all, we loved her. Loved the way her smile brightens up the house, the way her laugh echoes along the halls. Loved the way she'd sing Christmas carols, the way she'd cry watching Anime. The way she'd jump awake while making her homework, the way she'd grumble in the mornings. We loved her fiery temper, her fierce love, the way she ripped apart the world for her nakama's happiness. 

We loved her as if she was ours, not because of Claus, but because of who she is. 

But she grew old, older than us. She became wrinkly, and cranky, and weak. We took care of her, just as we did years ago. We loved her just as we did throughout her life. We adored her as if she still was a child we protected... 

And when she jumped off the cliff to join the sea... 

We were there. We cried, and cried, and cried. We tried to return to our routine. The way we lived years before her...

We can't. Not after she showed us how bright the world could be. We saw what Claus tried to show us long, long ago, and wept. For the lost opportunities, for the light we guarded, for the fire we ignited and watched as it burned to nothingness. It was funny, how much we didn't realize that she colored our worlds until she isn't there anymore.

*** 

The story started in a quaint, little house that stands by the sea side, and that is where it ends too.  



End file.
